CHENNAI: S Vijayadharani, a three-time MLA and a prominent face in the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC), who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, met the party's national president JP Nadda.
VIjayadharani, MLA of Vilavancode Assembly Constituency in Kanniyakumari district joined the saffron party in the presence of Union Minister of State L Murugan and Tamil Nadu BJP Lok Sabha election in-charge Arvind Menon and co-in-charge Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy.
A few reasons such as the party high command's deliberate inattention and the former CLP K Selvaperunthagai's elevation to the TNCC president, made her switch camp, said a close aide of Vijayadharani.
Vijayadharani lauded the Central government for its various good schemes and lamented that some of those are not being implemented in Tamil Nadu, where the DMK-Congress alliance is in power.
"I have been in Congress since my childhood. But in recent times, women's functionaries are not given priority in the TNCC. I am joining the BJP, which is working for the upliftment of women," Vijayadharani said.
"A lot of great things are happening to the country," she praised the BJP’s focus on women.
Welcoming the sitting MLA into his party, State BJP president K Annamalai said that Vijayadharani's presence would strengthen the path of Tamil Nadu BJP in realising the political change in the State.
Reacting to her exit, TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai said that an MLA named VIjayadharani is of no use to the Congress party or the country.